[Discussion] Multiple gyms per town?

[StevenStone18]

Hi everyone! I'm Steven and i'm here to make a question.

I'm developing a very complex game in pokemon essentials and one of the features is that there are 14 Gyms around the game and 4 Elite four members (which one has a Type of Pokemon).

My question is... Should i do more than one gym per town (EX: Grass and Bug gyms in one town) or just do a town for each gym?

Thanks for the help.

 

[zuxxu]

Hi!
Having all gyms in a game is great, no types are skipped after all!

To answer your question, having 14 towns with each a gym is obviously harder to achieve, due to lots of mapping. If you want smaller towns without gyms, the game map will become relatively complex. However you say the game is already complex, so you've probably already anticipated this. Such a world map would lead to diverse terrain and lots of exploration potential.

However having multiple gyms in the same town could lead to interesting situations as well. I don't know if you are making the game linear or more open-world, but if you go linear, the gyms in the town don't necessarily have to follow each other in the story, which would make revisiting areas more interesting, especially if there is significant story progress between the gyms.

I'd personally mix it up, having a few towns with double gyms that can be revisited later. This would strike a balance between workload and the finished game, but how you'll implement it is of course up to you.

 

[fancybacha]

I'd personally prefer smaller towns with different gyms than larger towns with multiple gyms. There's a certain charm that a Single gym gives to the town. Yknow?

 

[silverlime]

Unless you really like mapping, it might not be a good idea to have towns for each gym because they might seem rushed. I think people would rather see fewer towns that are well-developed and interesting. It can start to get boring once multiple towns are similar to each other, but it could work if you didn't mind the extra work that would go into making each town unique. The 2 main games that I've seen with 18 gyms were Pokemon Reborn and Rejuvenation (Reborn technically has 20). Both of these games have far fewer than 18 towns/cities total (Reborn seems as though it will have 9 counting Reborn City as 1 city, and Rejuvenation seems like it will have 14 if East and West Gearen are counted as separate). Both of these games have some gym fights outside of cities and do a good job of making each town and gym distinct.

 

[StevenStone18]

I'd personally prefer smaller towns with different gyms than larger towns with multiple gyms. There's a certain charm that a Single gym gives to the town. Yknow?

Well... Initially i was planning on doing Gyms with double battles but i started having other ideas so i decided to ask.
I like mapping but it's difficult to make creative maps when you have too many maps that's the reason why started to doubt if i should do one town to each gym or gyms with double battles.

 

[StevenStone18]

Unless you really like mapping, it might not be a good idea to have towns for each gym because they might seem rushed. I think people would rather see fewer towns that are well-developed and interesting. It can start to get boring once multiple towns are similar to each other, but it could work if you didn't mind the extra work that would go into making each town unique. The 2 main games that I've seen with 18 gyms were Pokemon Reborn and Rejuvenation (Reborn technically has 20). Both of these games have far fewer than 18 towns/cities total (Reborn seems as though it will have 9 counting Reborn City as 1 city, and Rejuvenation seems like it will have 14 if East and West Gearen are counted as separate). Both of these games have some gym fights outside of cities and do a good job of making each town and gym distinct.

Well... time isn´t the main problem and i like mapping but is difficult to make unique maps when you make many of them. As i said in other replies to my question i was planning on doing gyms with double battles ( ex: bug & poison types in the same gym ). I already started doing the first gym (normal type - cheren gym) and i'm having some problems with the design 😂.

 

[StevenStone18]

Hi!
Having all gyms in a game is great, no types are skipped after all!

To answer your question, having 14 towns with each a gym is obviously harder to achieve, due to lots of mapping. If you want smaller towns without gyms, the game map will become relatively complex. However you say the game is already complex, so you've probably already anticipated this. Such a world map would lead to diverse terrain and lots of exploration potential.

However having multiple gyms in the same town could lead to interesting situations as well. I don't know if you are making the game linear or more open-world, but if you go linear, the gyms in the town don't necessarily have to follow each other in the story, which would make revisiting areas more interesting, especially if there is significant story progress between the gyms.

I'd personally mix it up, having a few towns with double gyms that can be revisited later. This would strike a balance between workload and the finished game, but how you'll implement it is of course up to you.

Your idea is really good...
I want to make a game were i can mix characters from every oficial game so it is going to be complex anyway.
I though on doing gyms with double battles ( ex: bug & poison ) but i'm still thinking.
I already made the first gym ( cheren's gym - normal type ) and i'm having some problems.
Your idea was really good and i might do it the way you suggested but i'll have to analyse and "predict" the way the story will go in every possibility so it will take some time.
I'm trying to make something unique but with already known characters so it's going to be difficult so i just work on the game when i feel inspired.

 

[JackQ]

I think it's perfectly feasible to have multiple Gyms in a city, although I have to admit it interferes with the natural rhythm of the game somewhat. Then again, it's not always a bad thing to break up the usual monotony of town-route-town-route etc

Coincidentally, one of the cities in my own fan game is a huge metropolis with three Gyms. Putting it all together has been interesting to say the least. I find it helps to have an overarching plot that ties the three Gyms together. I also found it helpful to put each Gym in its own distinct part of the city (eg. putting one Gym is in the rough end of town and another on the richer, swankier side of town)

 

[SJFzone]

Hm, a thought that comes to my mind immediately is to have the town with the first gym ALSO have the last gym, which only is able to be challenged once all the other gyms are defeated. That way the player feels that they have come full circle. Just an idea, though!

 

[BrainWave]

You could make it that you only need to clear one of their gyms, but afterwards you can re-challenge either of them, as long as doing so doesn't add to your badge count.

 

[Bulky Ledian]

Well... Initially i was planning on doing Gyms with double battles but i started having other ideas so i decided to ask. [...] started to doubt if i should do one town to each gym or gyms with double battles.

Not to sound rude, but if you're already having trouble coming up with ideas maybe it'd be better to scale back.